Departing Russia coach Dick Advocaat wanted to remain in the post but was not offered a new deal by the country’s football authorities, he was quoted as saying Saturday by Russian newspaper Sovetsky Sport.
Advocaat will leave the Russian team after the upcoming Euro 2012 tournament to join Dutch club PSV Eindhoven, where he was confirmed as the new coach Friday.
“I wanted to continue working with the national team,” he said in comments reported by the newspaper.
Advocaat’s two-year contract expires after the tournament, but he said the Russian Football Union was contractually obliged to offer him a two-year extension and had not done so.
“There was no substantive conversation about a contract extension,” he said. “By not saying yes or no, the RFU did not fulfill the conditions of the contract.”
Advocaat denied reports in Russia that his pay demands had led to the split, but suggested that money may have played a role in the Russian Football Union’s actions.
“In Russia it’s a complicated situation. The RFU doesn’t have that much money, so other companies sponsor the national team and, in part, the coaching staff,” he said.
“Perhaps I would have liked to ask for more money, but they didn’t give me that chance,” he added.
Among the reported contenders to take over from Advocaat is Luciano Spalletti, who led Zenit St. Petersburg to their second straight league title this season. The Italian has said he would be happy to be on the shortlist for the job, and has been recommended by Zenit and Russia midfielder Roman Shirokov.
Other names mentioned include Russia under-21 coach Nikolai Pisarev, former CSKA Moscow coach Valery Gazzaev, and Rubin Kazan’s Kurban Berdyev.
